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Monday, March 7, 2011

30 Day Blog Challenge--Day 14: 5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

We are in the middle of our 1000th snow day of the year--at least that's the way it feels. So as I started writing today's blog, I asked my kids to answer this question.

Some Things My Kids Want To Do Before They Die

Jump Off A Cliff

Me: What? Jump off a cliff? This isn't a list about how you want to die, it's stuff you want to do first. Do you mean you want to go hang-gliding?

J#2: No. I just want to jump off a cliff.

It took a little more probing before I realized he wanted to go cliff jumping. Silly me...Here's the rest of the list:

Sky diving

Waterskiing

Horseback riding

Meet Johnny Depp

Learn archery

Play in the FIFA world cup

Meet Wesley Sneijder

Go to Switzerland

publish a book

jump in a pound of spikes

Me: Is that your way of saying you're tired of talking about this?

Writing a list of 5 things I want to do before I die is very different than writing a list of 100 things I want to do before I die, or 20 things I want to do this year. A lot of whittling went on to make this list. Then I found a great quote:

“If I had my life to live over I’d dare to make more mistakes. I’d relax, I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously . . . I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones . . . “You see, I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had it to do again, I would travel lighter than I have. “If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.”

With that in mind, here is my list:

5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
(and no, I don't really care if I learn how to count)

1. Hold my great grand-children.

2. Live like a local for a month. Preferably somewhere warm. Or Switzerland. Somewhere that changes me.

3. Publish things. Get read. I no longer have a desire to be world famous. But I would love to make a living doing something I love as much as writing.